Buddhism began in India 2,500 years ago and, although virtually extinct in India, it remains the dominant world religion in the East. There are over 360 million followers of Buddhism worldwide and over one million American Buddhists. There even a significant number of "Jewish Buddhists." Buddhist concepts have also been influential on western society in general, primarily in the areas of meditation and nonviolence.

Buddhist beliefs and practices are based on the teachings of the Buddha ("Enlightened One"), an Indian prince named Siddharta Gautama who lived around 500 BCE. According to Buddhist tradition, the young prince lived an affluent and sheltered life until a journey during which he saw an old man, a sick man, a poor man, and a corpse. Shocked and distressed at the suffering in the world, Gautama left his family to seek enlightenment through asceticism. But even the most extreme asceticism failed to bring enlightenment. Finally, Gautama sat beneath a tree and vowed not to move until he had attained enlightenment. Days later, he arose as the Buddha - the "enlightened one." He spent the remaining 45 years of his life teaching the path to liberation from suffering (the dharma) and establishing a community of monks (the sangha).

Over its long history, Buddhism has grown into a variety of forms ranging from an emphasis on religious rituals and the worship of deities, to a complete rejection of both rituals and deities in favor of pure meditation. Yet all forms of Buddhism share respect for the teachings of the Buddha and the goal of ending suffering and the cycle of rebirth. Theravada Buddhism, prominent in Southeast Asia, is atheistic and philosophical in nature and focuses on the monastic life and meditation as means to liberation.

Mahayana Buddhism, prominent in China and Japan, incorporates several deities, celestial beings, and other traditional religious elements. In Mahayana, the path to liberation may include religious ritual, devotion, meditation, or a combination of these elements. Zen, Nichiren, Tendai, and Pure Land are the major forms of Mahayana Buddhism.

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Welcome to the home of Meditation and Modern Buddhism in Orlando! Modern Buddhist meditation is for everybody, regardless of religious background, race, ethnicity, or orientation. We happily welcome everyone, including people of all faiths, to our center.

Our center offers a variety of classes, workshops, and meditation instruction, so there is something here for everyone! Presented in Western context and in a casual and friendly atmosphere, we learn Buddha's advice on how to solve life's difficulties with a peaceful and happy mind. No previous experience of meditation is needed and each class can be taken on its own, or as part of a series.

What are the benefits of meditating?

When the turbulence of distracting thoughts subsides and our mind becomes still, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arise from within. This feeling of contentment and well being helps us cope with the busyness and difficulties of daily life. So much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, and many of the problems we experience, including poor health, are caused or aggravated by this stress.

Just by doing breathing meditation for ten or fifteen minutes each day, we will be able to reduce this stress. We will experience a calm spacious feeling in the mind, and many of our usual problems will disappear. If we then learn the insights of Buddha's Lamrim meditations we can create profoundly positive changes in our lives; difficult situations will become easier to solve, we will naturally feel a warm heart toward everyone we meet, and all of our relationships will continuously improve.

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If you'd like to read about meditation and then go back to your regular life, don't get this book. Henepola Gunaratana, a monk from Sri Lanka and venerated teacher of Buddhism, warns us that vipassana meditation is "meant to revolutionize the whole of your life experience." In one of the best nuts-and-bolts meditation manuals, he lays out the fundamentals of basic Buddhist meditation, the how, what, where, when, and why, including common problems and how to deal with them. His 52 years as a Buddhist monk make Mindfulness in Plain English an authority on a living tradition, and his years of teaching in America and elsewhere give it the clarity and straightforwardness that has made it so popular. If you'd like to learn the practice of meditation, you can't do better. --Brian Bruya --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"A masterpiece." (Jon Kabat-Zinn)

"A classic--one of the very best English sources for authoritative explanations of mindfulness." (Daniel Goleman)

"Of great value to newcomers... especially people without access to a teacher." (Larry Rosenberg, author of Breath by Breath)

"This book is the bible of mindfulness." (Barry Boyce, editor of Mindful magazine and The Mindfulness Revolution)

"Wonderfully clear and straightforward." (Joseph Goldstein, author of A Heart Full of Peace)

"Pithy and practical." (Shambhala Sun)

"Jargon-free." (USA Today)

"Among the very best." (Tricycle)

"A classic." (Inquiring Mind)

"Profound...a classic interpretation of Vipassana meditation practice." (The Middle Way)

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Buddhism is a religion founded by Siddhartha Gautama. Buddhism teaches people how to end their suffering by cutting out greed, hatred and ignorance. When people do bad things, they will get bad consequences. When people do good things, they will get good consequences. Good and bad things do not cancel out.

This cause-and-effect chain is reflected in the endless cycles of life, death and rebirth. Buddhism believes in reincarnation (rebirth). The ultimate goal of a Buddhist is to reach the state of enlightenment (Nirvana) and liberate oneself from endless reincarnation and suffering. Some see Buddhism as a religion,[1] others see it is a philosophy, and others think it is a way of finding reality.[2][3] Some think that it is unnecessary to label Buddhism.

Gautama Buddha a man who lived between about 563 BCE and 483 BC was born in Lumbini, Nepal, as a rich prince. He gave up everything to find a way to end suffering. His teachings spread, after his death, through most of Asia, to Central Asia, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and the East Asian countries of China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan and have now spread to the west.

The Buddha's teachings are about suffering and how to overcome it.[4] According to the Buddha, overcoming suffering allows a person to be truly happy. The Buddha taught that if people make good decisions they would be happy and have peace of mind. The Buddha taught that life is imperfect and that we will suffer. He taught that we suffer because of desire, anger and stupidity, and he showed that we could end our suffering by letting go of desires and overcoming anger and stupidity. The complete letting go of these negative influences is called Nirvana, meaning "to extinguish", like putting out the flame of a candle. The end of suffering, when one is fully awake (put an end to one's own ignorance) and has let go of all desire and anger, is also called Enlightenment. In Buddhism Enlightenment and Nirvana mean the same thing.

Buddhism teaches non-harm and moderation or balance, not going too far one way or the other. Buddhists often meditate while sitting in a special or specific way. They often chant and meditate while walking. Buddhists sometimes do these things to understand the human heart and mind. Sometimes they do these things to understand the way the world works. Sometimes they do these things to find peace.

Buddhism does not say if gods exist or not, but one can read many stories about gods in some Buddhist books. Buddhists do not believe that people should look to gods to save them or bring them enlightenment.[5] The gods may have power over world events and they might help people, or they might not. But it's up to each person to get to enlightenment. Many Buddhists honor gods in ritual. Other Buddhists believe the stories about gods are just there to help us learn about parts of ourselves.

Buddha is a word in the very old Nepalese and Indian languages Pli and Sanskrit which means "Enlightened one". The word "Buddha" often means the historical Buddha named Buddha Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama),[6] but "Buddha" does not mean just one man who lived at a certain time. It is used for a type of person, the equivalent of a prophet, and Buddhists believe there have been many - that there were Buddhas a very long time ago and there will be for a long time in the future.

Buddhists do not believe that a Buddha is a god, but that he is a human being who has woken up and can see the true way the world works. They believe this knowledge totally changes the person. Some say this puts them beyond birth, death, and rebirth. Others think this represents the final extinction of desire. This person can help others become enlightened too.

According to Buddhism, there were countless Buddhas before Gautama Buddha and there will be many Buddhas after him. In short, he is not the first, nor will he be the last.

The first Buddha in Buddhavamsa sutta was Tahakara Buddha, The Mahapadana sutta say the first Buddha was Vipassi Buddha, however, counting from the present kalpa (the beginning of our present universe) Buddha Gautama is considered the fourth Buddha. The first is Kakusandho Buddha, second Konakamano Buddha and the third Kassapo Buddha. The last Buddha of this kalpa will be Maitreya Buddha. Then the universe will renew itself and from then begins a new kalpa.

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Buddhism - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Buddha and Buddhism

The founder of Buddhism in this world was Buddha Shakyamuni who lived and taught in India some two and a half thousand years ago. Since then millions of people around the world have followed the pure spiritual path he revealed. Buddha explained that all our problems and suffering arise from confused and negative states of mind, and all our happiness and good fortune arise from peaceful and positive states of mind.

He taught methods for gradually overcoming minds such as anger, jealousy and ignorance, and developing positive minds such as love, compassion and wisdom, and in this way. Through this we will come to experience lasting peace and happiness. These methods work for anyone, in any country, in any age. Once we have gained experience of them for ourselves we can pass them on to others so they, too, can enjoy the same benefits. The Buddhist way of life peace, loving kindness and wisdom is just as relevant today as it was when Buddha appeared in ancient India.

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Buddhism - Meditation in Connecticut

You yourself must strive.The Buddhas only point the way. ~ Shakyamuni Buddha

If you are exploring Buddhism, or a beginner, you are probably utterly confused about why there are different branches of Buddhism and which one you should pick (or if it really matters).

For someone just starting out on the path (exploring or practicing Buddhism), this is by far your most difficult decision as you dont want to feel like you wasted your time.

Rest assured, there cannot be a wrong choice for youinpicking a branch or school, but each one has its ownadvantages and disadvantages based on what path you wish to follow. Before I get any further, its worth mentioning that when I describe both branches they are broad strokes, because schools within each branch can practice differently.

Lets startwith the basics. There are two main branches (sometimesreferred to asschools) of Buddhism:

What about Tibetan? Vajrayanaor Tibetan is sometimes calledits ownbranch but incorporates the Mahynatradition, and forms 6% of all Buddhists.

At itscore, all Buddhism is exactly the same, but have some fundamental differences on how it is practicedand what the laity (thats you and me) can hope to get out of it.

All branches of Buddhism believe in:

As you can already tell, both branches of Buddhism pretty much believe in the samethings! So you are probably scratching your head right about now because you believe (or were told) that they are wildly different. So lets get right into the differences.

The historical Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, teaching the four noble truths.

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Schools In: Comparing Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism

Buddhism,Buddha: recliningRichard Abeles/Rex USAreligion and philosophy that developed from the teachings of the Buddha (Sanskrit: awakened one), a teacher who lived in northern India between the mid-6th and the mid-4th centuries bce (before the Common Era or Christian era). Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played a central role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of Asia, and during the 20th century it spread to the West.

Ancient Buddhist scripture and doctrine developed in several closely related literary languages of ancient India, especially in Pali and Sanskrit. In this article Pali and Sanskrit words that have gained currency in English are treated as English words and are rendered in the form in which they appear in English-language dictionaries. Exceptions occur in special circumstancesas, for example, in the case of the Sanskrit term dharma (Pali: dhamma), which has meanings that are not usually associated with the English dharma. Pali forms are given in the sections on the core teachings of early Buddhism that are reconstructed primarily from Pali texts and in sections that deal with Buddhist traditions in which the primary sacred language is Pali. Sanskrit forms are given in the sections that deal with Buddhist traditions whose primary sacred language is Sanskrit and in other sections that deal with traditions whose primary sacred texts were translated from Sanskrit into a Central or East Asian language such as Tibetan or Chinese.

Buddhism arose in northeastern India sometime between the late 6th century and the early 4th century bce, a period of great social change and intense religious activity. There is disagreement among scholars about the dates of the Buddhas birth and death. Many modern scholars believe that the historical Buddha lived from about 563 to about 483 bce. Many others believe that he lived about 100 years later (from about 448 to 368 bce). At this time in India, there was much discontent with Brahmanic (Hindu high-caste) sacrifice and ritual. In northwestern India there were ascetics who tried to create a more personal and spiritual religious experience than that found in the Vedas (Hindu sacred scriptures). In the literature that grew out of this movement, the Upanishads, a new emphasis on renunciation and transcendental knowledge can be found. Northeastern India, which was less influenced by the Aryans who had developed the main tenets and practices of the Vedic Hindu faith, became the breeding ground of many new sects. Society in this area was troubled by the breakdown of tribal unity and the expansion of several petty kingdoms. Religiously, this was a time of doubt, turmoil, and experimentation.

A proto-Samkhya group (i.e., one based on the Samkhya school of Hinduism founded by Kapila) was already well established in the area. New sects abounded, including various skeptics (e.g., Sanjaya Belatthiputta), atomists (e.g., Pakudha Kaccayana), materialists (e.g., Ajita Kesakambali), and antinomians (i.e., those against rules or lawse.g., Purana Kassapa). The most important sects to arise at the time of the Buddha, however, were the Ajivikas (Ajivakas), who emphasized the rule of fate (niyati), and the Jains, who stressed the need to free the soul from matter. Although the Jains, like the Buddhists, have often been regarded as atheists, their beliefs are actually more complicated. Unlike early Buddhists, both the Ajivikas and the Jains believed in the permanence of the elements that constitute the universe, as well as in the existence of the soul.

Despite the bewildering variety of religious communities, many shared the same vocabularynirvana (transcendent freedom), atman (self or soul), yoga (union), karma (causality), Tathagata (one who has come or one who has thus gone), buddha (enlightened one), samsara (eternal recurrence or becoming), and dhamma (rule or law)and most involved the practice of yoga. According to tradition, the Buddha himself was a yogithat is, a miracle-working ascetic.

Buddhism, like many of the sects that developed in northeastern India at the time, was constituted by the presence of a charismatic teacher, by the teachings this leader promulgated, and by a community of adherents that was often made up of renunciant members and lay supporters. In the case of Buddhism, this pattern is reflected in the Triratnai.e., the Three Jewels of Buddha (the teacher), dharma (the teaching), and sangha (the community).

In the centuries following the founders death, Buddhism developed in two directions represented by two different groups. One was called the Hinayana (Sanskrit: Lesser Vehicle), a term given to it by its Buddhist opponents. This more conservative group, which included what is now called the Theravada (Pali: Way of the Elders) community, compiled versions of the Buddhas teachings that had been preserved in collections called the Sutta Pitaka and the Vinaya Pitaka and retained them as normative. The other major group, which calls itself the Mahayana (Sanskrit: Greater Vehicle), recognized the authority of other teachings that, from the groups point of view, made salvation available to a greater number of people. These supposedly more advanced teachings were expressed in sutras that the Buddha purportedly made available only to his more advanced disciples.

As Buddhism spread, it encountered new currents of thought and religion. In some Mahayana communities, for example, the strict law of karma (the belief that virtuous actions create pleasure in the future and nonvirtuous actions create pain) was modified to accommodate new emphases on the efficacy of ritual actions and devotional practices. During the second half of the 1st millennium ce, a third major Buddhist movement, Vajrayana (Sanskrit: Diamond Vehicle), or Esoteric Buddhism, developed in India. This movement was influenced by gnostic and magical currents pervasive at that time, and its aim was to obtain spiritual liberation and purity more speedily.

Despite these vicissitudes, Buddhism did not abandon its basic principles. Instead, they were reinterpreted, rethought, and reformulated in a process that led to the creation of a great body of literature. This literature includes the Pali Tipitaka (Three Baskets)the Sutta Pitaka (Basket of Discourse), which contains the Buddhas sermons; the Vinaya Pitaka (Basket of Discipline), which contains the rule governing the monastic order; and the Abhidhamma Pitaka (Basket of Special [Further] Doctrine), which contains doctrinal systematizations and summaries. These Pali texts have served as the basis for a long and very rich tradition of commentaries that were written and preserved by adherents of the Theravada community. The Mahayana and Vajrayana/Esoteric traditions have accepted as Buddhavacana (the word of the Buddha) many other sutras and tantras, along with extensive treatises and commentaries based on these texts. Consequently, from the first sermon of the Buddha at Sarnath to the most recent derivations, there is an indisputable continuitya development or metamorphosis around a central nucleusby virtue of which Buddhism is differentiated from other religions.

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Buddhists in Arkansas are represented by ethnic immigrants who bring to the state the religious practices of their homelands as well as native Arkansans who have turned to Buddhism for their spiritual needs. Though less than one percent of the population of Arkansas, Buddhists in the state have established temples testifying to their presence, in addition to meeting in a variety of formal and informal groups.

Buddhism can be described as a religion, a philosophy, a psychology, a practice, or a way of life. Buddhisms essentially non-theistic framework, along with its emphasis on personal experience as the only true validation of its teachings, sets it apart from most other religious systems. Despite the varied schools of Buddhist thought and practice, the central focus of Buddhism is on the elimination of individual suffering through training the mind. The foundation of all Buddhist thought is summarized in the Four Seals of Buddhism: 1) all composite phenomena are impermanent; 2) all tainted emotions (emotions that arise out of ignorance, hatred, or craving) are painful and cause suffering; 3) all phenomena are empty of inherent existencethat is, phenomena arise only out of interdependence on other causes and conditions; and 4) Nirvana (escape from the cycle of death and rebirth) is true peace.

There are at least two Buddhist temples in Arkansas serving primarily Laotian immigrant communities: Wat Buddha Samakitham in Fort Smith (Sebastian County) and Wat Lao Thepnimith Xaimongkoon in Springdale (Washington County). Wat Buddha Samakitham, the largest in the state; was founded in 1989 and, by 2001, had ten permanent monks and occupied six acres of land. Fort Smith is also home to two Vietnamese Buddhist temples, the foremost of which is Cha Ph Minh.Fort Smith temple Wat LaoBuddharam was destroyed by fire on March 5, 2015. In 2005, the Cha Bat Nha temple in Bauxite (Saline County),which serves a predominately Vietnamese community, opened.

The oldest and largest Buddhist society in Arkansas not associated with a particular ethnic or immigrant group is the Ecumenical Buddhist Society of Little Rock, founded by Anna Cox, Jay McDaniel, and Charles Hicks; this group, which began meeting in the late 1980s and was formally established in 1993, accommodates a variety of Buddhist traditions. In Fayetteville (Washington County), Barbara Taylor founded the Morning Star Zen Center (associated with the Korean Kwan Um school) in 1986. Other small practice groups were founded in northwest Arkansas during the 1990s and 2000s, including the Buddhist Meditation and Spiritual Support Group, founded by Geoff Oelsner in 1996; the Fayetteville Soto Zen Center, founded by Jack McDowell in 2000; and the Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship, founded by James Ownbey and Jerry Walsh in 2004.

One of Arkansass most famous Buddhists was death row inmate William Frank Parker, a double murderer who converted to Buddhism while in prison and impressed many with the depth of his personal transformation. He was briefly a cause clbre among American Buddhists, with the Dalai Lama and actor Richard Gere among the hundreds calling for clemency, before he was executed by lethal injection on August 8, 1996.

In the fall of 2006, Geshe Thupten Dorjee, a Tibetan monk in the Gelug tradition, accepted a position at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County), teaching courses in Buddhist philosophy, Tibetan culture, and non-violence. Outside of his university duties, Geshe Dorjee provides Buddhist teachings through several groups and organizations, including regular teachings at the Tibetan Buddhist Practice Group led by Pam Dramis. In 2007, Geshe Dorjee, Professor Sidney Burris, and others founded the Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas, which is dedicated to helping the Tibetan people preserve their culture within the emerging global village. The Tibetan Buddhist presence in Arkansas is also manifest in the Katong Choling Mountain Retreat Center in Newton County, which was founded by abbot Khentrul Lodr Thay Rinpoche and includes a small cave temple; the land was consecrated in 2010.

Because of the diversity and lack of formal hierarchy within American Buddhism, statistics are difficult to gather. One source estimates the number of Buddhists in Arkansas in 1990 at 0.2 percent of the total population. Buddhism remains one of the very smallest religions in the United States and in Arkansas; at the same time, however, there is an indication that the religion is one of the fastest-growing in the Western world.

For additional information:Barbee, Eric. Pluralistic Society. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,November 24, 2001, pp. 4B5B.

Buddhark. http://buddhark.com/ (accessed January 26, 2015).

EBS Revolves around Buddhist Meditation. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,March 23, 2003, p. 4B.

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Buddhists - Encyclopedia of Arkansas

Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to Insight into the true nature of reality. Buddhist practices likemeditation are means of changing yourself in order to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness, and wisdom. The experience developed within the Buddhist tradition over thousands of years has created an incomparable resource for all those who wish to follow a path a path which ultimately culminates in Enlightenment or Buddhahood.An enlightened being sees the nature of reality absolutely clearly, just as it is, and lives fully and naturally in accordance with that vision. This is the goal of the Buddhist spiritual life, representing the end of suffering for anyone who attainsit.

Because Buddhism does not include the idea of worshipping a creator god, some people do not see it as a religion in the normal, Western sense. The basic tenets of Buddhist teaching are straightforward and practical: nothing is fixed or permanent; actions have consequences; change is possible. So Buddhism addresses itself to all people irrespective of race, nationality, caste, sexuality, or gender. It teaches practical methods which enable people to realise and use its teachings in order to transform their experience, to be fully responsible for theirlives.

There are around 350 million Buddhists and a growing number of them are Westerners. They follow many differentforms of Buddhism, but all traditions are characterised by non-violence, lack of dogma, tolerance of differences, and, usually, by the practice ofmeditation.

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Theravda (Pali, literally "school of the elder monks") is a branch of Buddhism that uses the teaching of the Pli Canon, a collection of the oldest recorded Buddhist texts, as its doctrinal core, but also includes a rich diversity of traditions and practices that have developed over its long history of interactions with various cultures and communities. It is the dominant form of religion in Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma, and is practiced by minority groups in Vietnam, Bangladesh, and China. In addition, the diaspora of all of these groups as well as converts around the world practice Theravda Buddhism.

Theravda Buddhism is followed by various countries and people around the globe, and are:

Today, Theravda Buddhists, otherwise known as Theravadins, number over 150 million worldwide, and during the past few decades Theravda Buddhism has begun to take root in the West[a] and in the Buddhist revival in India.[web 2]

The name Theravda comes from the ancestral Sthvirya, one of the early Buddhist schools, from which the Theravadins claim descent. After unsuccessfully trying to modify the Vinaya, a small group of "elderly members," i.e. sthaviras, broke away from the majority Mahsghika during the Second Buddhist council, giving rise to the Sthavira sect.[1] According to its own accounts, the Theravda school is fundamentally derived from the Vibhajjavda "doctrine of analysis" grouping,[2] which was a division of the Sthvirya.

Theravadin accounts of its own origins mention that it received the teachings that were agreed upon during the putative Third Buddhist council under the patronage of the Indian Emperor Ashoka around 250 BCE. These teachings were known as the Vibhajjavada.[3] Emperor Ashoka is supposed to have assisted in purifying the sangha by expelling monks who failed to agree to the terms of Third Council.[4] Later, the Vibhajjavdins in turn is said to have split into four groups: the Mahsaka, Kyapya, Dharmaguptaka, and the Tmraparya.

The Theravda is said to be descended from the Tmraparya sect, which means "the Sri Lankan lineage." Missionaries sent abroad from India are said to have included Ashoka's son Mahinda and his daughter Sanghamitta, and they were the mythical founders of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, a story which scholars suggest helps to legitimize Theravda's claims of being the oldest and most authentic school.[4] Sanghamitta is said to have founded the Mahavihara "Great Monastery" of Anuradhapura. In the 7th century CE, the Chinese pilgrim monks Xuanzang and Yijing refer to the Buddhist schools in Sri Lanka as Shngzub (Chinese: ), corresponding to the Sanskrit "Sthavira Nikya" and the Pali "Thera Nikya."[b][c] The school has been using the name Theravda for itself in a written form since at least the 4th century, about one thousand years after the Buddha's death, when the term appears in the Dpavasa.[d]

According to Buddhist scholar A. K. Warder, the Theravda

... spread rapidly south from Avanti into Maharastra and Andhra and down to the Chola country (Kanchi), as well as Sri Lanka. For some time they maintained themselves in Avanti as well as in their new territories, but gradually they tended to regroup themselves in the south, the Great Vihara (Mahavihara) in Anuradhapura, the ancient capital of Sri Lanka, becoming the main centre of their tradition, Kanchi a secondary center and the northern regions apparently relinquished to other schools.

Over much of the early history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, three subdivisions of Theravda existed in Sri Lanka, consisting of the monks of the Mahvihra, Abhayagiri vihra and Jetavana.[8] The Mahvihra was the first tradition to be established, while Abhayagiri Vihra and Jetavana Vihra were established by monks who had broken away from the Mahvihra tradition.[8] According to A.K. Warder, the Indian Mahsaka sect also established itself in Sri Lanka alongside the Theravda, into which they were later absorbed.[8] Northern regions of Sri Lanka also seem to have been ceded to sects from India at certain times.[8]

When the Chinese monk Faxian visited the island in the early 5th century CE, he noted 5000 monks at Abhayagiri, 3000 monks at the Mahvihra, and 2000 monks at the Cetiyapabbatavihra.[10]

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Theravada - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia